01 · The spark
DigiCast put auctions in the lanes.
Most dealers aren't near one.
While I was designing DigiCast, the software for ACV's physical auction lanes, one thing kept bugging me. ACV only has so many physical locations, and shipping a car to one costs a dealer real money before it's even on the block. So I wondered: what if dealers could run their own live auction, wherever they are? LotDrops is that idea. Go live anywhere, anytime, with no lane and no shipping.
02 · The brief
Dealers are paying to be invisible.
A dealer lists a car on a marketplace, sets a price and waits. There's no urgency and no personality, and the only way to compete is to drop the price. The average used car sits on the lot for 45+ days while the dealer pays listing fees to platforms that treat every car the same.
Buyers are out there. Dealers just have no way to reach them at the moment it matters.
03 · The idea
A flyer in a window,
or a salesperson on the floor.
Each drop is a live event: the dealer is on camera, buyers bid or buy in real time, and questions get answered before anyone loses interest.
No lane and no shipping. A dealer schedules a drop and walks buyers through real cars from their own lot.
Buyers bid, hit Buy Now or ask the seller to start the engine again, all from the same view.
Unsold cars land in a Past Lot Drops tab on the seller's profile, so the event keeps working.
04 · The call I'd defend
The best stage was one ACV already had.
Build a standalone live-selling app.
Build it into the ACV Marketplace where buyers already trust.
DigiCast taught me that live selling only works if buyers trust the car on screen. So LotDrops reuses what ACV buyers already rely on: AMP engine audio, Virtual Lift undercarriage photos and seller ratings. Buyers believe a live seller when the car's data backs them up.
05 · The screens
Three moments in one drop.
Find it on the marketplace home
Featured Lot Drops sits right next to Physical Auctions, so live selling shows up where buyers already shop.
Pick a show
The LotDrops hub has Live Now, Upcoming and Saved tabs, Featured Top Sellers and dealerships near you.
Be in the room
The live stream, current bid, Bid and Buy Now, an event timer, the upcoming queue and live chat with the seller, all in one view.
06 · Watch the pitch
Watch the pitch.
07 · What I took from it
A prototype ends the debate
faster than a deck.
I built LotDrops on my own, as an experiment in how far one designer could take an idea during ACV's early days with AI tools. Something people could click made the idea easy to judge, and the DigiCast research made it easy to defend.
More case studies
Thanks for reading.
Head back home, or browse the rest of my work.